NZ to host Swans-Saints AFL match

Updated
April 24, 2013 13:53:00

Rugby-mad New Zealand will make Aussie rules history tomorrow when it becomes the first overseas country to host an ALF match for premiership points. Twenty-thousand tickets have already been sold for the clash between reigning premiers the Sydney Swans and Saint Kilda.

ASHLEY HALL: Tomorrow rugby-mad New Zealand will make Aussie rules history when it becomes the first overseas country to host an AFL match for premiership points.

Twenty-thousand tickets have already been sold for the clash between the reigning premiers, the Sydney Swans, and St Kilda.

New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz reports from Wellington.

(Sound of Saints cheer squad)

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: St Kilda's cheer squad is determined to make tomorrow's landmark clash one to remember.

(Sound of Saints cheer squad)

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Fans worked late into the night to create a special Anzac Day banner for both teams to run through when they take centre stage at Wellington Stadium.

With New Zealand's capital, known as Windy Wellington, cheer squad manager Jenny Loring says the pressure's on to create a banner that's memorable - for the right reasons.

JENNY LORING: I've been told to watch for wind and different ways of putting the banner up and sometimes we put windholes in it.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: And we know AFL's all about the big men flying, I hope you're not going to be flying over the stadium as well.

JENNY LORING: Yeah it might be Mary Poppins with a great big white banner (laughs).

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: The Cake Tin - as the stadium is known locally - is ready to go, with a 50 metre line, a centre square, and of course, the goalposts.

They've been shipped in from Melbourne and won't be going back anytime soon because Wellington is now home away from home for the Saints.

Club chief executive Michael Nettlefold says the Saints and the AFL have struck a deal with the Wellington City Council to play five games here over three years.

MICHAEL NETTLEFOLD: It's a unique opportunity for the St Kilda football club to be at the forefront of the AFL international expansion. It's something that just comes along once in a lifetime for a club like ours.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: How do you get a rugby-mad country interested in AFL?

MICHAEL NETTLEFOLD: Well it's amazing, the interest since we've been here's been quite unbelievable. New Zealanders are very sports-mad like Australians and in Australia we go to great sporting events and I expect in New Zealand they'll adopt the game as well.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Why Wellington over another city?

MICHAEL NETTLEFOLD: Well Wellington's got almost virtually a purpose-built AFL sized stadium and it's semi-enclosed, it's one bowl, it's a fantastic stadium, it's 34,000 seats. So it's a boutique stadium by our standards but it's absolutely, it's just set up so brilliantly for AFL footballers. And it will be like a colosseum there tomorrow night.

CELIA WADE-BROWN: What we get is obviously the immediate hospitality returns. Most far hotels are absolutely full.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says that in the longer term the AFL could be worth millions of dollars to the city. She admits she's no expert on the game, but is only too willing to learn.

CELIA WADE-BROWN: I don't know all the rules but I do know about the shorts and I'm really looking forward to seeing all those men running around with short shorts on.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: The mayor isn't the only person talking about AFL attire. A front-page article in the capital's daily newspaper, the Dominion Post, describes as a travesty the players' tight-fitting shorts that go "just south of their undies".

MICHAEL NETTLEFOLD: Well I think they're actually a little longer than when I was playing, so I think they've actually improved somewhat but I'm not sure travesty is the right word. But they're certainly snug in terms of the way they fit.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Whatever the drawcard, there does seem to be a healthy interest in tomorrow's match and Wellingtonians are renowned for getting behind their city's events - be it a Hobbit movie premiere, the World of Wearable Art, or the Rugby Sevens which sees pretty much everyone in the city dress up in the most outrageous of costumes.

Do you think that Wellingtonians will get behind AFL, that they will like it? I mean it is a rugby mad nation after all.

CELIA WADE-BROWN: Absolutely. Look, everyone that I've spoken to who has been to a full AFL game says it's really, really lively, enjoyable and fast.